The Escapist
by Crimson Siyrean
Summary: Travailing back to Konoha to face interrogation, Karin can't help but wonder about her strange captors, especially about one in particulars reading habits. Why does he always have his noes in a book? Slight Kakashi/Karin. One Shot. Complete.


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Summary: He was doing it again. He was reading that damn book. What was it about that thing that kept his nose buried every time she saw him?

A/N: FFN hates me, every time I edit this, it deletes it. This is my fourth time through so you must forgive me if I missed some things. I've wanted to write these two for a long time but before 487 came out, there really was no premise, and now there oh so conveniently is :D anyways, this is dedicated to all the lovely ladies over on NF's KaKa FC and inspired by Zombie Puff.

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The Escapist

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Naruto and Sakura laid huddled in their bed rolls comfortably by the fire as Kakashi sat near. He was reading his ever present Icha Icha Tactics by the dim light while keeping first watch. Karin's roll lay closer to his yet she hadn't made a move to use it. Instead she sat with her knees drawn and eyes watching the flicker to the dancing flames.

"You should sleep," she heard a deep voice murmur. "We've got a long ways to go tomorrow."

The girl's eyes flicked up to see the man still steadily reading as though he hadn't spoken a word. Idly Karin wondered how he was supposed to be keeping watch with his nose buried in a book, but then she registered the words.

"I was stabbed through the chest," she answered dully, feeling the flash of remembered pain all over again. How could she possibly sleep after all they had gone through today? In one day everything changed, in one day the world came crashing down all around her, in one day her heart broke and instead of the intense pain she had been sure would come, she felt empty and alone.

Oblivious to the emotions conflicting within the girl, Kakashi merely glanced at her. "I'm aware of that." And continued to read.

Karin scowled at his complete dismissal. "You try to sleep after being stabbed through the chest."

"You've been healed," she heard him say but the sound of his voice was the only indication he'd spoke.

_Well fuck you too_, she thought back bitterly. Sure, they were enemies, but it wasn't exactly like she was putting up a fight either.

"Still hurts," she answered letting the first hint of anger seep through her voice. Would a little sociability kill him?

His eyes glanced up to meet hers. She stared back and raised a single eyebrow, not about to be cowed by his stare. Kakashi sighed then looked away. "Suit yourself then."

Karin continued to frown as he went back to his book. She was half tempted to simply grab the damned thing and toss it in the fire, prisoner or no.

"What are you reading?" she finally snapped at him. He tilted the cover so she could see. Some how the green cover with hearts and a thinking man didn't seem all that impressive. Karin gave him an incredulous look. "It any good?"

He shrugged, turning a page.

"What's it about?"

Another shrug.

"Well can you try to explain?" She saw his shoulders about to rise. "- And don't you dare shrug." He glanced up. Karin took the opportunity of his rarely given attention to shrug dramatically back. "-'s not an answer."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "The plot's too complex and layered. I wouldn't do it justice."

"Then how about you read the back," the girl answered as though speaking to a small child and feeling her frustration rise once more.

Kakashi chose to ignore her.

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A few hours later, Kakashi yawned and set his book down by his side. Karin was still up, still watching the flames, without even attempting to rest. Well she _was_ stabbed through the chest, he thought while walking over to his sleeping students. Her eyes followed his movements.

"Alright you," he said, shoving Naruto lightly. The boy groaned and rolled away. "Time to get up."

"Huh, what? It's not even morning," came a muffled, groggy voice from beneath a patch of blond hair.

"You've got watch till then," Kakashi said, giving a much harder shove. "I need to get some sleep since I'll likely be carrying her."

Naruto looked over to where Karin was sitting.

"Then I'll carry her," he mumbled, about to pull the cover back over his head. Kakashi then grabbed the bedding and gave it a hard yank. A half awake Naruto spilled onto the ground and found himself face first in the dirt. "The hell, sensei!"

"Keep your voice down, Sakura's sleeping," the older man admonished, readying his own sleeping roll. "And I'd rather you had your hands free while I watch the captive going back."

Naruto opened his mouth but then closed it, feeling there was a compliment hidden in there somewhere, even if he wasn't sure what it was. "Fine."

Karin tried to ignore the two while Kakashi nodded and laid down to rest.

It wasn't long before the breeze began to pick up, causing the girl to shiver and tighten her hold against her legs. The fire was dying down but still, no desire to sleep came. A few more minutes passed before Karin found herself in the same situation she had earlier, except this time with the blond boy interrupting her thoughts.

"You should probably sleep."

Karin looked over to see his eyes fixed out into the distance. Well at least it wasn't a book. _Naruto Uzumaki,_ she thought to herself. Sasuke's equal and host to the nine tails. It was then she realised she hated this, being surrounded by enemies who pretended to be friends.

"My chest hurts," she replied, forgoing her earlier comments to get straight to the point.

The boy's mouth twitched, still looking out into the woods. "Yeah, being punched through the lung will do that."

Karin's eyebrows rose. Maybe he was in more of a daze than she'd thought? "Actually it's was more of a lightening blade."

"Huh?" Naruto shook his head and turned to her, giving a bright smile. She could tell it was fake. "Oh, right. Well, they'll fix that once we get back."

The girl snorted. "Yeah, after they torture and interrogate me."

Naruto frowned. Did he think she didn't know what was coming? Karin's eyes drifted around the camp sight, no longer able to watch the boy in his naivety. They then rested upon that small green covered book that had been left out.

"It won't be like that," Naruto stated firmly and was about to give another smile when the girl suddenly moved. "What are you doing?"

Karin had risen to her knees and crawled over to where the book sat. "Relax; I'm just grabbing your sensei's book."

His face lit up in surprise. "You like that stuff?"

The girl gave a disturbingly Kakashi like shrug. "I just want to see what it is that had him so engrossed." And flipped open to a random page and began to read.

'_Hands clenched at her silky thighs as her soft moans echoed within the small chamber_.'

"Oh, then you might not want to read-"

She skimmed down.

'_He bit down, causing her to cry out.' _

And down.

'_Soft passage.'_

"What the hell is this?" Karin called, looking up with a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

"-that. Icha Icha Tactics?"

'_Her tears showered his shoulders, both knowing this would be the last time.'_

"Wow," was all she could say, and then flipped back to the first page to start reading anew.

"I know," Naruto grind. "They're kind of boring. I'm not really sure why he reads them so much." She shrugged. "I mean they're not realistic at all." Again she shrugged, not lifting her eyes. "And the characters-"

Naruto paused to look over. Karin's eyes never flickered from the page as all her attention was silently drinking in every passage. Naruto shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself, deciding to just let her be.

Hours passed and slowly the dimmest light from sunrise broke over their camp. Yawning, Naruto glanced over to his teammates. Both were sleeping peacefully and even Karin seemed to have finally given in to rest despite her interest in Kakashi's book, though it appeared not by choice. Her head was rested against the open page with the slightest bit of drool marring the text.

_Well that's Kakashi's problem,_ the boy thought as he carefully slipped the book from under Karin's head before setting it closed next to his sleeping sensei.

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During the next morning it didn't take long for Karin notice something was wrong. It was the pink haired girl that first alerted her. She'd glanced over to where Karin was just sitting up and her eyes went wide while her mouth dropped. She'd then rushed to her teammates side to whisper something in his ear. He too looked over before a wide grin spread across his face and the two burst out laughing.

Anger instantly flashed over the girl. Never the one to stand by while being the butt of someone's joke, Karin stood, putting her hands on her hips and shot the two the harshest glare she could manage after only an hour or two of sleep.

"What," she barked out, not at all caring that she was supposed to be their captive.

It was then Kakashi came over to see what all the fuss was about. His visible eye momentarily widened before crinkling into a tell tale smile. "You've been reading my book."

"_Excuse me?"_ she asked, feeling her face heat up. How could he know that just by looking at her? Was she giving off pervy thoughts or something? She hadn't read that much of it. And just what _could_ the sharingan pick up? "Why would you say that?"

"Because…" He paused to rub the back of is neck. "It's written all over your face."

"You're being re-"

"'_True, the lord's palace was an impressive sight but no so impressive as that of his daughter. Her dark eyes skimmed over his poor and worn shinobi apparel with apparent amusement. Some would think it distain but a lifetime around dangerous woman had taught him to know that right now he was in very, very deep trouble.'"_ Karin's mouth dropped. "Was that the page you were on? You left off at a good part."

_No, it was impossible…_ "How-?"

Maybe he put a sort of booby-trap genjutsu on it? Maybe she was still dreaming.

His mouth just twitch and he gave a light shrug seeing her panicked confusion. "You know, you really are too young to be reading those. They're restricted for a reason."

Anger again flared through the girl. It was bad enough they were all teasing her, and having a good laugh at it too by the looks of it, but for him now to comment on her being _young_. "I feel like I've aged ten years since yesterday alone," she snapped with her hands still firmly on her hips. "Don't preach to me about being young."

His smile softened. "Suit yourself," he answered and then walked back to finish cleaning up the camp.

Sakura then had the good grace to pass the girl a small mirror. Karin's face flushed bright red as she saw the book's print had faintly transferred onto her skin from where she must have fallen asleep on the page. He had actually read her face…

Karin's grip tightened on the mirror. "Someone, give me some water!"

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It was nearly two weeks before they saw each other again. She'd been turned over to T&I while he was busy dealing with the mess Danzou and the continued presence of Root left for them. His nose was buried in his book but he glanced up just as they were about to pass.

"I see you're wearing the leaf now," he said, stopping her in her tracks. He wasn't all that surprised to see the Konoha hitai-ate tied round her head. He was, after all, the unofficial Hokage and had suggested the move to Ibiki when the question of what to do with her came up.

She looked over, startled from her thoughts. Karin's eyes instantly narrowed. "Not like I have much choice. I can't leave the village _and_ I'm stuck doing nothing but D ranks for your trashed city."

He just stared before replying in a level voice. "It's not prison or execution, both were very possible options given your situation."

She didn't even flinch. "No, instead it's slave labour."

"Some would call it freedom."

Karin snorted, feeling the weight of a life filled with disappointment push against her. "What's freedom? I thought we were shinobi. I haven't been free a single day of my life."

Kakashi sighed and looked down at the book in his hand. _When had they all gotten so old? _

"Look, I've gotta go. They're liable to think I'm trying to make a break for it if I don't show up on time."

He then raised his hand and tossed the book towards the girl. She caught in easily, though her surprised was evident. Karin looked at the cover dubiously, as though expecting some trick. "What's this?"

"Freedom," he answered simply. The girl raised her eyes to see his crinkle into a smile. "Enjoy."

He then disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving her there contemplating his words. After a moment of coming up with nothing, Karin decided to simply shrug, open to the page she had left off, and began reading anew while continuing on her way.

_What a strange man…_

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"You're late," both Sakura and Naruto yelled when their sensei finally arrived.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. "But I saw a pretty girl trapped in a tower, so I taught her how to escape."

"Liar!"

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A/N: Ok so that wasn't quite as upbeat as most of my stories but i just don't see Karin or Kakashi as being particularly light hearted at this point in the manga. I may continue this on at some later date but for now it's just a little one shot and as always, i can't help but abuse Icha Icha and my main plot device. Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think. i think Kakashi and Karin would have some interesting chemistry if the two kept running into each other.

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